Over the years many of us have acquired a variety of cell phones and we sometimes wonder what the heck to do with them. The batteries can be hazardous to dispose of and it just seems so wasteful to throw them out!
There is an organization named Call to Protect (www.calltoprotect.org). It is organized by a wireless foundation, Motorola and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, that collects used phones for battered women’s shelters nationwide. The phones are repaired and programmed to call emergency numbers in the area they are distributed. Your old phones can now mean comfort and safety for a victim of domestic violence. I just boxed up three phones to ship to Call to Protect, and I feel great about it. They are, after all, for a truly worthy cause.
numbering. The paper products are a slam dunk for the paper bin. Actually it gets even better. The distributors themselves have switched completely away from “peanuts” and use paper and air filled bags for the most part now. Again this is 100% recyclable goods. This is proof that more sustainable solutions are possible for the packaging but what of the components themselves? This poses more of a challenge. Fortunately the European Union has recently done something that will change the way computer parts are made in a very positive way. Effective July 2006 any electronic electronics shipped to EU countries will have to be lead free. Lead has been an essential component in solder that is used in just about every electronic device. We’ve removed lead from paint and gasoline and now with some help from the EU will remove it from electronics. What if you live outside of the EU, will you still have lead in your electronics? It is possible but it is very likely that rather than making parts unique for EU distribution and non EU distribution it will probably be cheaper for manufacturers to just make everything to EU specifications. This should have a huge impact on the lead levels that future generations will be exposed to in the environment.